Sundaycelebrations

Celebrations Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time | June 28, 2020

Welcome to Sunday Celebrations, a resource from RCL Benziger to help you celebrate Sunday with your family, in your home.

Each Sunday’s celebration focuses on the Gospel of the day, and encourages family members of all ages to join in singing, praying, sharing, and celebrating. Suggested songs (search the internet for recorded versions) and craft activities help enliven and extend the celebrations.

Here are three simple ideas to help you get started:

Choose the place where you will gather for your Sunday celebration. It may be around your living room coffee table, undayaround your kitchen or dining room table, outdoors at your 1 picnic table, any place that works for your family! S Decorate your chosen place with symbols of faith. These might include a placemat, napkin, or cloth in the color of the liturgical season; a Bible; a candle; a cross or crucifix; and a plant or flowers. Other suggestions will be offered 2 on each Sunday Celebrations outline. Each Sunday Celebrations outline is based on the flow of a Liturgy of the Word with children. Feel free to adapt the outline to best suit the ages and attention spans of your family members. It is most important simply to set aside time 3 to pray and reflect on God’s Word. RCL Benziger prays that by taking time for Sunday Celebrations, families of all ages will be encouraged and strengthened by God’s Word. Our prayers are with you as you lead your family in Sunday Celebrations and the Good News of Jesus Christ.

Gospel Reading Matthew 10:37-42 (Readings are available at usccb.org/bible/readings.) Symbol (optional) Green cloth for prayer table; Bible; candle; cross or crucifix; materials for “Celebrating Sunday Throughout the Week” activities

Get Ready Invite family members to share things that are difficult or hard for them, and where they could use Jesus’ help today. For example, maybe a school subject is hard for one of your children; perhaps caring for an elderly parent is difficult for you right now; or maybe a family member struggles with being patient or kind to others. Explain that these things that are difficult or hard for us are often referred to as our “crosses.” Invite family members to listen to what Jesus has to say about our crosses.

Begin • Light a candle and sing “Embrace My Way and Cross,” “I Have Decided to Follow Jesus,”unday or “The Summons.”

• Make the Sign of the Cross and pray: Jesus, open our hearts to hear your Word for Sus today. Help us always to follow you. Amen. Listen and Reflect • Sing “Alleluia!” • Before proclaiming the Gospel, remind family members to listen for what Jesus says about our crosses. • Proclaim today’s Gospel. • Spend a moment in silent reflection. Then ask family members to recall what Jesus said. (We should pick up our crosses and follow after him.) • Ask family members what they think Jesus meant by these words. (Welcome all responses, and suggest the following meanings too: we each have a cross to carry; Jesus had a Cross to carry; because Jesus carried his Cross, we know we can carry our crosses; Jesus will give us the strength and courage we need to carry our crosses if we follow him and put our trust in him.)

Connect • Recall that everyone has a cross that he or she carries. • Invite family members to give examples of crosses that others carry, being mindful of the elderly, the poor, the homeless, those who are sick, those who are dying, refugees, immigrants, new students, new neighbors, and so forth.

• Name ways that your family can help others carry the crosses you have identified. Suggest simple things, such as prayers, smiles, and encouraging words, as well as things such as preparing and serving a meal at a local shelter, donating clothing to a parish or local charity, helping Habitat for Humanity, or sending cards to the sick and homebound members of your parish. • Make a family plan to act on one or more of your ideas.

Conclude • Lead your family in praying for the world, the Church, those struggling beneath the weight of their personal crosses, the sick and those who have died, and your intentions. Respond, “Jesus, help us follow you.” • Pray together the Lord’s Prayer. • Make the Sign of the Cross and conclude by singing the song you sang at the beginningunday of this celebration. S Celebrating Sunday Throughout the Week

Here are two suggestions for the coming week: 1. Fill a basket with small cutout crosses. Invite family members to take one cross each time they help someone else carry his or her cross in the coming week. Ask family members to bring their crosses with them to next Friday’s or Saturday’s dinner. Congratulate the family member who has collected the most crosses. If possible, present him or her with a special cross. Then invite a sharing of all the ways family members helped others carry their crosses in the past week. 2. Use the internet and print resources to research the many different types of crosses and the stories behind them. (Examples include: Latin cross, St. Andrew’s cross, Jerusalem cross, Papal cross, Celtic cross, Marian cross, Chi Rho, and St. Brigid’s cross.) Invite each family member to choose a favorite cross and to create his or her own version of that cross using drawing paper and crayons or markers, or other craft materials you have at home. Display the finished crosses throughout your home.